Heroes and Monsters
by SuperYellowSentai
Summary: 1992, in Churchill NC, Sam had a gut feeling which both his brother and father ignored. They would come to regret this choice for the rest of their lives. -This is a one shot that ties into Unforeseen Future, but it can be a stand alone too. (To be safe I'm rating this T)


**(So this came about thanks to me rereading through chapter nine in Unforeseen Future as I was double checking that my facts were clear. Then I thought to expand the story I had given about Sam and the time that his family didn't pay attention to his gut feeling, all because he was the youngest. If you have not read UF then don't worry, I clarify what happens in the story itself please don't feel like you need to read through the chapters. Although I wouldn't complain if you did.)**

 **Heroes and Monsters**

The kid was quiet, and that was just unsettling. His normally talkative and excited little brother was just so sedated. Dean looked up from his hamburger and tried not to seem as if he were staring; even though he was. The boy was still pressed back into the leather seat and his lips in a thin line.

"Hey Samantha. You think Uncle Bobby will let us go to the zoo again?" He leaned over and nudged the boy's shoulders trying to be playful. "I'm sure your cousins miss you."

This was the part where Sam made a face and asked what Dean was talking about. Then Dean would call Sam a monkey. Only Sam didn't say anything. Sam didn't look over at his brother. Sam didn't move.

Dean looked up at the rearview mirror and caught his father's eyes. Both of them were filled with concern.

"Hey Sammy. If you don't eat your food, it's going to go cold." John rumbled sounding like nothing was wrong, when everything wasn't okay. They should have listened. He shouldn't have dismissed his boy's feelings.

Dean bumped shoulders with Sam again, and this time the little boy shoved his brother away, or would have if he had the strength. "I'm fine Dean. I don't want to eat anything and I don't want to talk to you right now."

Despite the anger in his tone Dean could tell that his little brother was so close to tears. Dean met his father's eyes again and spoke paragraphs to his father through just that stare. His father shook his head almost violently. But Dean scowled. In the end Dean won when his father blew out a breath and looked away first.

"You know Sam. What you saw…I'm sorry." Dean finally said softly. Sam looked away from his brother quickly and hid his eyes behind a curtain of hair. "You shouldn't have seen that."

"I'm okay." Sam said softly.

" _Everything isn't okay!" Sam argued. He tugged on his brother's shirt and pleaded with his eyes. "Somethings wrong! I know it is!"_

 _Dean had laughed before but irritation was making his way on his face. "Dad and I are going on a hunt. You've stayed by yourself before."_

" _I'm not asking you to stay and_ not _hunt. All I want you to do is go over and knock on the door. Make sure everything is okay."_

" _I'm not disturbing someone in their own room. Especially when they obviously want their privacy." John stated firmly as he tucked away just cleaned guns and pressed salt rounds into the duffle._

Dean sighed and pulled his little brother towards him. Sam fought the hands and Dean let him win this time. "Sam let's just talk about this. Keeping it in isn't going to help you."

"No." Sam growled.

 _Sam continued to argue. Nothing John or Dean could say would make him cease._

" _I'm not making this up dad. I heard something." Sam insisted firmly. His hair was still in a messy mop, and it bounced as he spoke with urgency. "Besides the man took that woman in there two days ago and none of them have come out yet."_

 _Dean zipped up the bag he'd help stuff full of weapons. "Why are you spying on the people next door, besides they're probably having sex."_

" _Yes it's the normal sounds, but they stopped some time ago and no one has still left. Something weird is going on. Seriously."_

 _John scowled and looked over at Dean. The face clearly read irritation at the mention of the word, and Sam knew Dean would get an earful when they were driving to the hunt. "Sam, we have an actual hunt to do, we don't have time for a wild goose chase." His father shoved Dean out the door and slammed the door behind him, leaving Sam alone in the creepy motel room._

Dean shut his eyes at the memory. He wished he hadn't left. That he taken his kid brother's word, but he hadn't. They hadn't been gone long. Maybe two or three hours, and he got the call from Sam.

" _He left, and I unlocked the door." Dean wanted to chew his brother out for breaking and entering for no reason, but the kid continued too quickly for him to do so. "She's dead." Dean's breath had stopped. The grip on his phone tightened, and his palms got all sweaty. The panic in Sam's tone left no room for argument. The kid had been worried and sure enough he was right. "Dean, she's dead."_

His brother's panicked tone echoed in his head, and guilt pounded through him all over again. It was something a nine-year-old should ever have to see. The sight hadn't been pretty for anyone of any age.

The woman had been naked, bound to the bed with zip ties and rope. She was open eyed staring at the ceiling. Her face showed signs of dried tear tracks, and her death was painfully evident. There was a stab wound to her heart, and the once grey comforter was now blood red. The bastard had even taken her pink lace panties and gagged her with them. Dean wasn't sure if it was a case of date gone awful, or if she was a kidnapped victim, but her fate had been awful all the same.

Sam himself hadn't been okay. The kid had been in the corner of the room and he was quiet. His eyes didn't leave the body, even as Dean moved to block his vision and usher him out.

John had barked orders to Dean to pack up everything, return the key to the room and leave. John had scrubbed the spots any of them had touched and on the way to the next motel he had left the police an anonymous claim.

Caleb had been called to assist on the hunt. Luckily the man was nearby to help, because Dean wasn't going to leave his brother's side. Even if his dad had ordered him to.

"Just go sit up front." Sam's small voice broke through Dean's muddled thoughts and the older brother looked concerned down at his little brother. "I don't even know why you wanted to sit back here."

"Because dad can be shit company sometimes." Dean said smoothly not breaking stride on his sarcasm. "You are so much cooler to sit next to."

"Stop it, Dean." Sam clenched his fists. "Stop trying to be so- so you."

"I can't help it." Dean reached over and ruffled Sam's hair and this time the kid didn't fight it.

"Tell you what kiddo. You eat half of that hamburger, and I'll go up front." Dean figured he wouldn't get Sam to talk now. So might as well use what he could to get the kid to eat.

While his father and Caleb were dealing with the spirit, he'd tried to get Sam to eat and talk. That went off the rails. The kid only managed a grilled cheese sandwich before tossing it back up and going to bed."

Sam wrinkled his nose. "It's cold."

"And whose fault is that?" Dean rolled his eyes, but kept contempt from his tone. "It still stands though. Eat half and for the rest of the drive you get the backseat to yourself."

Sam regarded the wrapped hamburger and scowled. Eventually he picked it up and unwrapped it his face contorting as the he took in the scent. Kid took small bites and chewed slowly, but the hamburger was soon halfway gone. He even held it up as a dramatic show.

"Okay. I'm moving up." The car lacking seat belts due to the time it was manufactured Dean simply crouched and crawled to the front seat. He plopped down on the seat and turned up the music to prevent Sam from hearing him and their father talk. "He ate something at least."

"Try talking to him again when we make it to Bobby's." John spoke softly and nodded. He didn't look over at Dean however. Dean knew perfectly well just how much his father was kicking himself for not listening to his youngest boy. For letting his nine-year-old see the woman. "Your foods still back there."

"I'm done." Dean stated simply. "Besides, don't start with me. I've been the one eating regularly the last couple of days. It's Sam that has to eat."

John didn't show it but the amount of concern that Dean showed for Sam on a regular basis could be…well…concerning. Instead of taking care of himself he often made sure that Sam got everything. "So long as you have breakfast tomorrow."

"Yeah, yeah." Dean dismissed his father's worry with a wave of his hand.

xxxOOOxxx

Dean walked into the kitchen trying to keep a calm demeanor. To anyone else he was accomplishing it, but to Bobby it was transparent allowing Dean's concern to shine through. Bobby didn't move away from the stove as he stirred the chili. "He left out the back."

Dean's head snapped towards his uncle. "Sam?"

"No, the damn Easter Bunny." Bobby rolled his eyes. "Yes, Sam. Who else would you be fretting over."

"Okay, I do not fret." Dean bristled, taking offense.

Bobby chuckled. "Ease up. I'm not claiming you have lady parts or anything."

Dean eyed Bobby with a glare but his intent went back to Sam. How long ago did he leave?"

"Maybe thirty minutes…" Bobby thought back to when he had seen the kid slip out the back. He hadn't said anything. With what the kid had seen he figured he'd need some time alone.

Dean kicked himself internally. He'd positioned himself in the living room so that he could hear if Sam came down the stairs. The little brat had snuck past him. He was getting good. "I'm going after him."

Bobby barred his exit with an arm. When Dean ran into it, it felt like running into a brick wall. "Hey, how are you doing?"

"Fine. Why are you concerned about me?" Dean's tone held irritation at being held back.

Bobby patiently blocked his path again when Dean tried to wiggle through. "Because I'm afraid that your blaming yourself for an unfortunate situation."

"Unfortunate situation? Sam walked into a room with a dead woman, who had clearly been raped." Dean scowled and narrowed his eyes. "Dead; as in singing with the angels."

"I know." Bobby said patiently. "And it wasn't a pretty sight I imagine. You do realize though that if your father has his way he's going to hunt."

Dean's heart leapt up into the throat. "I know."

"And he's going to see a lot more dead bodies. Maybe have to dig them up too." Bobby said calmly. "I don't want him to, I don't want you to, hell, I wish I didn't have to. But that's part of the job. There was this one job I was working where I tried to save this woman, and the thing tore her through with its claws. I blamed myself for a long time on that one."

Dean shut his eyes. He'd seen more than his own fair share of gore. "Sam hasn't seen that yet. He hasn't been exposed to anything like that before."

"He was going to be." Bobby stated shortly. "I don't want you two on this path. If I had a choice, you boys would be going to school, where the only problems you had were keep up your grades and not getting into the liquor cabinet. That's not where you two are at though. So long as your daddy chooses you are going down the path of hunting, and that's filled with monsters and death. Someone else's or at the end of your road even your own. That's not a life I would wish on anyone."

Dean studied the older man. The man was filled with regret. Dean wondered if Bobby really cared for them as much as they cared for him. In his life he didn't run into good people. Sometimes Bobby was just too good to be true. "If I admit that I feel bad about it will you let me go through without an emotional talk."

Bobby sighed and moved to let him pass. "You can get him, but we need to talk later. You don't need this hanging on your soul, boy. I'm afraid you have too much baggage as there is."

Dean didn't confirm or deny anything. He moved to the back door and walked out not giving any mind to the older man anymore. All he knew was that Sammy was out there on the lot by himself. And when Sam wasn't feeling a hundred percent that spelled out danger.

He checked the old Cadillac. Some reason the kid kept going back there. This time however he wasn't. The sound of dead wood being hit sent out an approximate location and Dean finally found the boy in the corner of the lot. Sam was throwing rocks at a dead stump, the very stump someone had once summoned a fae. From the look of the rock pile next to Sam, he was nowhere near finished. Dean didn't say anything he simply walked up and crouched next to the pile, scooping up a few and joined Sam in throwing it at the offending log.

"The log do something to you?" Dean asked tossing a third rock at the thing.

"Besides summon a damn leshi." Sam chuckled half-heartedly. "One that took on the faces of my book characters?"

"I think a human did that. A hunter." Dean held on to the fourth and looked over at Sam while he rocketed the rock towards the stump. The kid had a potential future in baseball.

Sam stopped after another and looked over at Dean. "Humans are messed up."

It took Dean a second to figure out that it wasn't just Jonah that Sam was mentioning. "They are. The universe has to have a balance though. For every bad person there is a good."

"You mean like that woman." Sam said quietly.

Dean tossed the rock and it thumped against the hollow log. "Maybe." Dean fixed the log with a glare. "People are complicated. Monsters, vampires, ghouls, werewolves, and anything…supernatural…they have rhyme and reason. The things they do is because of an impulse. The moon makes the werewolf crazy. Vampires desire blood. Ghouls were just born that way. The real unexplained monsters are the ones that are humans. There's no real explanation for why they do what they do."

"Like witches." Sam didn't look Dean's way.

"Or the man that did that horrible thing to that woman." Dean finished. It finally occurred to Dean just what was bothering his brother. Yes, the news spelled out horrific stories about shootings and murders. Sam hadn't experienced something like that first hand. The woman had died from something all too human. And that what was getting to him. "That's where you were going with this right. The monster in this story is a human being. Something that should know better."

Sam looked down at his hands. They were chalky from the rocks and the dirt. "She was- she looked like she died in pain. She had been crying. She was scared, and I don't think that stopped him. He had her in that room for two days. We're hunters. We should save people, right. Why didn't we track down that man? He's a monster too."

"It's complicated, Sam. The ones who deal with him are the police, the lawyers, and the judge. They'll investigate and find him. We have a job under the radar. We find the things that shouldn't exist." Dean said calmly sitting on the offending log.

"I read stories in the newspapers at the motel and I know they don't always get them. The human monsters get away." Sam said quietly. "There's all this proof that they did something, and they don't go to jail."

"We need better lawyers then." Dean chuckled.

Sam looked thoughtful. "Yeah, better lawyers."

Dean didn't understand the look that passed through his brother's face. "If your done throwing rocks at the scapegoat stump, then do you want to go inside. It's getting cold out here and I think Bobby's near done with his chili."

Sam made a face. "I don't like Bobby's chili."

"Neither do I, but we don't go back to the house he's going to track us down with a shot gun. Maybe even shoot a bullet in us for good measure." Dean smacked Sam's shoulder and gave his brother a friendly shove.

"I'll take the bullet." Sam muttered as he stumbled back to the house.

 **(Hey, you liked this, feel free to leave a review. It always brightens up my day to see that you enjoy my writing, and I work indoors, with no windows…so I could use a little sunshine. ;D)**


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